High Carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability and manufacturing process thereof

ABSTRACT

A high carbon steel wire material which is made of high carbon steel as a raw material for wire products such as steel cords, bead wires, PC steel wires and spring steel, allows for these wire products to be manufactured efficiently at a high wire drawing rate and has excellent wire drawability and a manufacturing process thereof.  
     This high carbon steel wire material is made of a steel material having specific contents of C, Si, Mn, P, S, N, Al and O, and the Bcc-Fe crystal grains of its metal structure have an average crystal grain diameter (D ave ) of 20 μm or less and a maximum crystal grain diameter (D max ) of 120 μm or less, preferably an area ratio of crystal grains having a diameter of 80 μm or more of 40% or less, an average sub grain diameter (d ave ) of 10 μm or less, a maximum sub grain diameter (d max ) of 50 μm or less and a (D ave /d ave ) ratio of the average crystal grain diameter (D ave ) to the average sub grain diameter (d ave ) of 4.5 or less.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a carbon steel wire material which is made of high carbon steel as a raw material for wire products such as steel cords, bead wires, PC steel wires and spring steel, allows for these wire products to be manufactured efficiently at a high wire drawing rate and has excellent wire drawability.

2. Description of Related Art

To manufacture the above wire products, wire drawing is carried out on a steel wire material as a raw material for the control of size and material (mechanical properties) in most cases. Therefore, the improvement of the wire drawability of a steel wire material is extremely useful for the enhancement of productivity and the like. When wire drawability is improved, many advantages such as the improvement of productivity by an increase in wire drawing rate and a reduction in the number of passes for wire drawing and also the extension of the service life of a die can be enjoyed.

As for wire drawing, researches have been mainly focused on wire breakage resistance at the time of wire drawing. For example, patent document 1 discloses technology for improving wire breakage resistance by optimizing the size of a pearlite block, the amount of proeutectoid cementite, the thickness of cementite and the Cr content of cementite, paying attention to these.

Patent document 2 reveals that the wire drawing limit is improved by controlling the area ratio of upper bainite and the size of bainite contained. Further, patent document 3 discloses technology for improving wire breakage resistance and the service life of a die by controlling the total amount of oxygen contained in steel and the composition of a non-viscous inclusion. As for the service life of a die, the descalability of the surface of a steel wire material is also important. If scale remains on the surface of a steel wire material due to poor descalability, it causes the chipping of the die at the time of wire drawing. Therefore, patent document 4 discloses technology for improving mechanical descalability by controlling pores existent in scale.

However, the above prior arts place main emphasis on the improvement of wire breakage resistance under specific wire drawing conditions and rarely pay attention to the improvement of wire drawing rate, the reduction of the number of passes for wire drawing and the extension of the service life of a die from the viewpoint of wire drawability. As previously disclosed, increases in wire drawing rate and the area reduction rate per pass lead to the deterioration of the ductility of wire products and the shortage of the service life of the die. However, the effect of improving wire drawability to such an extent that increases in wire drawing rate and area reduction rate can be achieved at practical levels is not obtained yet from the above prior arts. Patent document 1 JP-A 2004-91912 (the term “JP-A” as used herein means an “unexamined published Japanese patent application”) Patent document 2 JP-A 8-295930 Patent document 3 JP-A 62-130258 Patent document 4 Japanese Patent No. 3544804

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention which has been made in the view of the above situation to provide a steel wire material having excellent wire drawability which makes it possible to increase the wire drawing rate and the area reduction rate and extend the service life of a die, attaching great importance to productivity, and a process capable of manufacturing the steel wire material efficiently.

As for the constitution of the high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability of the present invention which can attain the above object, the high carbon steel wire material contains 0.6 to 1.1% by mass of C, 0.1 to 2.0% by mass of Si, 0.1 to 1.0% by mass of Mn, 0.020% or less by mass of P, 0.020% or less by mass of S, 0.006% or less by mass of N, 0.03% or less by mass of Al and 0.0030% or less by mass of O, the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities, the Bcc-Fe crystal grains of its metal structure having an average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) of 20 μm or less and a maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) of 120 μm or less.

As a preferred mode of the above steel material according to the present invention, the bcc-Fe crystal grains of the above metal structure have an area ratio of crystal grains having a diameter of 80 μm or more of 40% or less, an average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) of 10 μm or less, a maximum sub grain diameter (d_(max)) of 50 μm or less, and a (D_(ave)/d_(ave)) ratio of the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) to the average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) of 4.5 or less, and further when the tensile strength of the steel wire material is represented by TS and the content of C in the steel wire material is represented by Wc, they satisfy the relationship of the following expression (1): TS≦1240×Wc ^(0.52)  (1).

The steel wire material of the present invention may contain at least one element selected from 1.5% or less (not including 0%) by mass of Cr, 1.0% or less (not including 0%) by mass of Cu and 1.0% or less (not including 0%) by mass of Ni or at least one element selected from 5 ppm or less (not including 0 ppm) of Mg, 5 ppm or less (not including 0 ppm) of Ca and 1.5 ppm or less (not including 0 ppm) of REM.

Preferably, in the steel wire material of the present invention, the total decarbonization of the surface layer (D_(m-T)) is 100 μm or less and the adhesion of scale is 0.15 to 0.85% by mass.

Further, the process of the present invention is useful for the manufacture of a high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability and the above characteristic properties.

A first manufacturing process comprises the steps of cooling a steel wire material made of steel which satisfies the above requirements for composition and heated at 730 to 1,050° C. to 470 to 640° C. (T₁) at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more and heating it to 550 to 720° C. (T₂) which is higher than the above temperature (T₁) at an average temperature elevation rate of 3° C./sec or more.

A second manufacturing process comprises the steps of heating a steel material which satisfies the above requirements for composition at 900 to 1,260° C., hot rolling it at a temperature of 740° C. or higher, finish rolling at a temperature of 1, 100° C. or lower, cooling it with water to 750 to 950° C., winding it on a conveyor device, cooling it at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more to 500 to 630° C. (T₃) within 20 seconds after winding, and heating it to 580 to 720° C. (T₄) within 45 seconds after winding. Herein, (T₄) is higher than the above value (T₃).

According to the present invention, a high carbon steel wire material which has excellent wire drawability and can enhance productivity due to increases in wire drawing rate and area reduction rate and can extend the service life of a die and a process capable of manufacturing the high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability surely and efficiently can be provided by specifying the contents of C, Si, Mn, P, S, N, Al and O in the steel, specifying the average crystal grain diameter and the maximum crystal grain diameter of the bcc-Fe crystal grains of its metal structure, preferably suppressing the area ratio of coarse crystal grains and further specifying the average sub grain diameter and maximum sub grain diameter of the above bcc-Fe crystal grains and the ratio of these.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a production pattern employed in Experimental Example 1;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the boundary map of the steel wire material obtained in the present invention;

FIGS. 3(A), 3(B) and 3(C) are graphs showing the evaluation examples of the crystal units of the steel wire material obtained in Experimental Example 1;

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the influence upon performance of average crystal grain diameter and maximum crystal grain diameter obtained in Experimental Example 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a production pattern employed in Experimental Example 2; and

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the influence upon performance of average crystal grain diameter and maximum crystal grain diameter obtained in Experimental Example 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The reason why the chemical components of the steel material are specified in the present invention will be clarified and then the reason why the crystal grain diameter of the structure of the steel material will be explained in detail hereinunder.

The reason why the chemical components of the steel material are specified will be first explained.

C: 0.6% to 1.1% by Mass

This is an element which has an influence upon the strength of an iron steel material. 0.6% or more by mass of C must be added to ensure strength required for steel cords, bead wires and PC steel wires to which the present invention is directed to. When the content of C is increased, strength becomes high but when it is too high, ductility deteriorates. Therefore, the upper limit of the content is set to 1.1% by mass.

Si: 0.1 to 2.0% by Mass

This element is added specially for the deoxidation of a steel material which is drawn into a wire at a high ratio. 0.1% or more by mass of Si must be added. Since Si contributes to the strengthening of a steel material, its amount is increased as required. However, when it is added too much, upgrade solution solubility is increased and decarbonization is promoted, to which attention should be paid. In the present invention, the upper limit of this content is set to 2.0% by mass from the viewpoint of reducing strength and preventing decarbonization. The content of Si is more preferably 0.15 to 1.8% by mass.

Mn: 0.1 to 1.0% by Mass

0.1% or more by mass of Mn must be added for deoxidation and to stabilize and make the harmful element S harmless as MnS. Mn also has the function of stabilizing a carbide contained in steel. However, when the content of Mn is too high, wire drawability is deteriorated by segregation and the formation of a supercooling structure. Therefore, the content of Mn must be reduced to 1.0% or less by mass. The content of Mn is more preferably 0.15 to 0.9% by mass.

P: 0.020% or More by Mass

P is an element specially harmful for wire drawability. When it is too much, the ductility of a steel material deteriorates. Therefore, the upper limit of the content of P is set to 0.020% by mass in the present invention. The content of P is more preferably 0.015% or less by mass, much more preferably 0.010% or less by mass.

S: 0.020% or Less

Although it is a harmful element, it can be stabilized as MnS by adding Mn as described above. However, when the content of S is to high, the amount and size of MnS become large and ductility deteriorates. Therefore, the upper limit of the content of S is set to 0.020% by mass in the present invention. The content of S is more preferably 0.015% or less by mass, much more preferably 0.010% or less by mass.

N: 0.006% or Less by Mass

It contributes to a rise in strength by age hardening but deteriorates ductility. Therefore, the upper limit of its content is set to 0.006% by mass in the present invention. The content of N is more preferably 0.004% or less by mass, much more preferably 0.003% or less by mass.

Al: 0.03% or Less by Mass

Al is effective as a deoxidizer and contributes to the formation of a fine metal structure when it is bonded to N to form AlN. However, when the content of Al is too high, a coarse oxide is formed to deteriorate wire drawability. Therefore, the upper limit of its content is set to 0.03% in the present invention. The content of Al is more preferably 0.01% or less by mass, much more preferably 0.005% or less by mass.

O: 0.003% or Less by Mass

When the amount of O contained in steel is large, a coarse oxide is readily formed and wire drawability deteriorates. Therefore, the upper limit of its content is set to 0.003% by mass in the present invention. The content of O is more preferably 0.002% or less by mass, much more preferably 0.0015% or less by mass.

The steel wire material of the present invention comprises the above chemical components as basic components, and the balance consists of iron and unavoidable impurities. It may contain the following elements as required.

Cr: 1.5% or Less by Mass

This is an element effective in increasing the strength of a steel material. When it is added too much, a supercooling structure is readily formed to deteriorate wire drawability. Therefore, the amount of Cr must be reduced to 1.5% or less by mass.

Cu: 1.0% or Less by Mass

Since it has the function of suppressing the decarbonization of the surface layer and also the function of increasing corrosion resistance, it can be added as required. However, when it is added too much, it readily causes cracking during hot working and also exerts a bad influence upon wire drawability due to the formation of a supercooling structure. Therefore, the upper limit of its content is set to 1.0% by mass in the present invention.

Ni: 1.0% or Less by Mass

Since it is effective in suppressing the decarbonization of the surface layer and improving corrosion resistance like Cu, it is added as required. However, when it is added too much, wire drawability is deteriorated by the formation of a supercooling structure. Therefore, its content must be reduced to 1.0% or less by mass.

Mg: 5 ppm or Less

Since Mg has the function of softening an oxide, it can be added as required. However, when it is added too much, the properties of an oxide change to deteriorate wire drawability. Therefore, its content is 5 ppm at maximum, preferably 2 ppm or less.

Ca: 5 ppm or Less

Ca has the function of softening an oxide as well and may be added as required. However, when it is added too much, the properties of an oxide change to deteriorate wire drawability. Therefore, its content must be reduced to 5 ppm or less, preferably 2 ppm or less.

REM: 1.5 ppm or Less

REM has the function of softening an oxide as well and may be added as required. However, when it is added too much, the properties of an oxide change to deteriorate wire drawability like Mg and Ca. Therefore, the upper limit of its content is set to 1.5 ppm. The content of REM is more preferably 0.5 ppm or less.

A description is subsequently given of the metal structure.

In the present invention, on condition that the above composition is satisfied, the essential feature of its metal structure is that “bcc-Fe crystal grains have an average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) of 20 μm or less and a maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) of 120 μm or less”.

More preferably, the above bcc-Fe crystal grains have “an area ratio of crystal grains having a diameter of 80 μm or more of 40% or less of the total area”, “an average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) of 10 μm or less and a maximum sub grain diameter (d_(max)) of 50 μm or less” or further “a (D_(ave)/d_(ave)) ratio of the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) to the average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) of 4.5 or less”.

Typical wire breaking during wire drawing is, for example, cupping breakage or longitudinal/shear cracking as shown in “Wire Drawing Limitation of Hard Steel Wires and Its Control Factors, Plasticity and Processing” (Takahashi et al.), vol. 19 (1978), pp. 726. According to this, the cupping breakage occurs when the pearlite block of a wire material is coarse and has poor ductility. For example, JP-A2004-91912 is also aimed to improve breakage resistance by controlling the grain no. of the pearlite block to Nos. 6 to 8. However, even in this invention, a rise in wire drawing rate at the time of drawing a wire is not realized yet.

Then the inventors of the present invention tried to control the sizes and distribution of crystal grain diameters based on the concept that “cupping breakage occurs because voids are formed and grow in a portion where crystal rotation does not take place smoothly during wire drawing and when coarse crystal grains are existent, voids are formed in that portion and cause breakage even though the average crystal grain diameter represented by crystal grain number is reduced.”

Since a relatively high carbon steel wire material to which the present invention is directed to is often controlled by the structure of pearlite mainly, the ductility of the wire material is often represented by a pearlite block (“factors of controlling the ductility of eutectoid pearlite steel”, Takahashi et al., bulletin of the Nippon Metal Society of Japan, vol. 42 (1978), pp. 708). However, as an ordinary steel material contains other structures such as ferrite and bainite, the inventors of the present invention have conducted studies based on the idea that the sizes and distribution of all crystal grain diameters including structures other than pearlite should be taken into consideration.

As a result, it has been found that when the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) is reduced to 20 μm or less and the maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) is controlled to 120 μm or less as specified by the present invention, wire drawability is greatly improved. When the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) is larger than 20 μm, the ductility of a wire becomes unsatisfactory. Even when the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) is 20 μm or less, if the maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) is larger than 120 μm, the wire is easily broken during wire drawing. Further, to obtain higher wire drawability, the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) is preferably set to 17 μm or less and the maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) is preferably set to 100 μm or less.

Although the object of the present invention is attained by specifying the above average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) and the above maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) of the metal structure, in order to further improve wire drawability, the following requirements are desirably satisfied in addition to these requirements.

That is, when the area ratio of crystal grains having a diameter of 80 μm or more is controlled to 40% or less in the bcc-Fe crystal grains of the metal structure to make all the crystal grains uniform and fine, wire drawability can be further improved. The area ratio of crystal grains having a grain diameter of 80 μm or more is preferably 25% or less, particularly preferably 0%.

When studies have been conducted to further improve wire drawability, it has been found that so-called “sub grains” which are crystal units having a low angle boundary with adjacent crystals also have an influence upon crystal rotation and that wire drawability can be further improved by suppressing the average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) to 10 μm or less and the maximum sub grain diameter (d_(max)) to 50 μm or less. That is, it is considered that when the number of coarse sub grains is made small and sub grains are made uniformly and fine, stress concentration is reduced and the formation of voids is suppressed. The average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) and the maximum sub grain diameter (d_(max)) are preferably 7 μm or less and 40 μm or less, respectively, to obtain the above effect.

Further, as for the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) and the average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)), it has been confirmed that when the (D_(ave)/d_(ave)) ratio of these is made small within the above ranges, wire drawability is further improved. This is considered to be because crystal rotation during wire drawing becomes smooth over the entire steel material, thereby making it difficult to cause the concentration of stress. The (D_(ave)/d_(ave)) ratio is preferably 4.5 or less, more preferably 4.0 or less to obtain this function effectively.

In order to further improve wire drawability in the present invention, the control of the tensile strength of a steel wire material and the content of C in the steel wire material to satisfy the relationship “TS [Mpa]≦1240×Wc^(0.52)” (TS is the tensile strength of the steel wire material and Wc is the content of C in the steel wire material) is also effective.

When the wire drawing rate and the area reduction rate are increased, voids are readily formed and the temperatures of the steel wire material and the die rise, thereby causing wire breakage (longitudinal/shear cracking) and reducing the service life of the die. When the wire drawing rate and the area reduction rate remain unchanged, a temperature rise has a great influence upon the strength of the wire material. As the tensile strength is lower, the temperature rise becomes lower. It has been confirmed that the tensile strength is almost determined by the content of C in the steel wire material, and that when the relationship between the tensile strength (TS) and the content of C in the steel wire material (Wc) is controlled to satisfy the above expression, breakage caused by a temperature rise at the time of wire drawing is significantly suppressed and the service life of the die is improved.

In addition, in the present invention, when the influences of the decarbonization of the surface layer of the steel wire material and the adhesion of scale upon wire drawability has been studied to further improve wire drawability, it has been confirmed that a steel wire material having a total decarbonization of the surface layer (D_(m-T)) of 100 μm or less and an adhesion of scale to the surface layer of 0.15 to 0.85% by mass shows excellent wire drawability as well.

Even when wire drawability is improved by the component design and structure control of a steel wire material, wire drawability is influenced by the properties of scale on the surface of the steel wire material. Although a steel wire material is descaled chemically and mechanically before it is drawn, when wire drawing is carried out while scale is not removed completely and remains in the step, the die is chipped. The adhesion of scale has a great influence upon descalability. As the adhesion of scale is larger, descalability becomes better. When the adhesion is too large, scale is removed before descaling process and the wire material may be rusted. When decarbonization occurs on the surface of the steel wire material, even if the adhesion of scale is satisfactory, scale bites into the decarbonated portion, making descaling difficult. Therefore, in the present invention, when the requirements for reducing wire drawability impeding factors derived from scale as much as possible have been investigated, it has been confirmed that a reduction in wire drawability caused by scale can be suppressed immediately by controlling the total decarbonization of the surface layer (D_(m-T)) to 100 μm and the adhesion of scale to the surface layer to 0.15 to 0.85% by mass.

A description is subsequently given of the process for manufacturing a high carbon steel wire material having the above characteristic properties.

The first process comprises the steps of cooling a steel wire material heated at 730 to 1,050° C. and made of steel which satisfies the above requirements for composition to 470 to 640° C. (T₁) at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more and heating it to 550 to 720° C. (T₂) which is higher than the above temperature (T₁) at an average temperature elevation rate of 3° C./sec or more.

The second process comprises the steps of heating a steel material which satisfies the above requirements for composition at 900 to 1,260° C., hot rolling it at a temperature of 740° C. or higher, finish rolling it at a temperature of 1,100° C. or lower, water cooling it to a temperature range of 750 to 950° C., winding it on a conveyor device, cooling it at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more to 500 to 630° C. (T₃) within 20 seconds after winding, and then heating it to 580 to 720° C. (T₄) within 45 seconds after winding. Herein, (T₄) is higher than the above value (T₃)

That is, to obtain a steel wire material having the above characteristic properties, a carbide in a steel material must be heated at 730° C. or higher to be dissolved so as to make its structure before transformation uniform. Although descalability improves as the heating temperature becomes higher, when the heating temperature exceeds 1,050° C., austenite grains before transformation become coarse, making it difficult to control the structure by transformation in the subsequent cooling step. Therefore, the heating temperature must be reduced to 1,050° C. or lower. The preferred heating temperature is 750 to 1,000° C.

In the cooling step after heating, the bcc crystal grain diameter after transformation which is controlled in the present invention is determined. To reduce the crystal grain diameter as uniform and small as possible, it is recommended to increase the cooling rate after heating as much as possible. The average cooling rate is set to 15° C./sec or more in the present invention. As (T₁) at the time of cooling is lower, the crystal grains become finer. However, when the steel material is cooled to a temperature below 470° C., a supercooling structure which impairs wire drawability is readily formed. Therefore, the lower limit is set to 470° C. Since the average grain diameter becomes large when (T₁) is higher than 640° C., the steel material must be cooled to at least 640° C. The preferred (T₁) at the time of cooling is 480 to 630° C.

In the present invention, the wire material must be heated to 550 to 720° C. which is higher than (T₁) after the above cooling step for making the crystal grains fine. This temperature (T₂) at the time of temperature elevation has a marked influence upon the strength of the steel material. As the temperature (T₂) becomes higher, the strength lowers, which is advantageous for wire drawing. When the temperature is lower than 550° C., the reduction of strength becomes unsatisfactory and when the temperature is higher than 720° C. and becomes excessively high, transformation becomes uncompleted and may cause a rise in strength. (T₂) at the time of temperature elevation is preferably 580 to 715° C.

That is, after the steel material is cooled to 470 to 640° C. (T₁) (preferably 480 to 630° C.), it is re-heated at 550 to 720° C. (T₂) (preferably 580 to 715° C., more preferably 580 to 710° C.) which is higher than T₁ to obtain a steel material containing uniform and fine crystal grains and having low strength.

When the average temperature elevation rate from the temperature (T₁) to the temperature (T₂) is too low, the reduction of strength to the target level of the present invention is not effected. Therefore, the average temperature elevation rate between them must be 3° C./sec or more. That is, in order to obtain a steel wire material having excellent wire drawability with the above first process, it is important that a wire material heated at 730 to 1,050° C. (preferably 750 to 1,000° C.) should be cooled to 470 to 64° C. (T₁) (preferably 480 to 63° C.) at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more and then heated to 550 to 720° C. (T₂) (preferably 580 to 715° C., more preferably 580 to 710° C.) at a rate of 3° C./sec or more. Herein, T₂ is higher than T₁.

Meanwhile, when a steel wire material to which the present invention is applied is a hot rolled wire material, the above second process is applied to control as follows.

First, the steel wire material is heated at 900 to 1,260° C. in a heating furnace, hot rolled at a temperature of 740° C. or higher and finish rolled at 1, 100° C. or lower. When the heating temperature is lower than 900° C., heating is insufficient and when the temperature is higher than 1,260° C., the decarbonized area of the surface layer becomes wide. The heating temperature is preferably 900 to 1,250° C. When the rolling temperature is reduced, the decarbonization of the surface layer is promoted and descalability deteriorates. Therefore, the lower limit temperature of hot rolling is set to 740° C. The lower limit temperature is preferably 780° C. When the finish rolling temperature is higher than 1,100° C., the control of the transformation structure by cooling and re-heating in the subsequent step becomes difficult. Therefore, the upper limit of the finish rolling temperature is set to 1,100° C.

After finish rolling, the wire material is cooled to 750 to 950° C. with water and wound on a conveyor device such as a conveyor to be set. The control of temperature after water cooling is for the control of transformation and the control of scale in the subsequent step. When the temperature at the time of cooling becomes lower than 750° C., a supercooling structure is formed on the surface layer and when the temperature becomes higher than 950° C., the transformability of scale is lost and scale is peeled off at the time of transportation, causing the generation of rust by descaling during transportation.

After winding, it is important for obtaining a metal structure having excellent wire drawability that the steel material should be cooled at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more, that the lowest value of the steel material temperature should be controlled to 500 to 630° C. (T₃) within 20 seconds from winding and setting on the conveyor device, and that the steel material should be heated again to 580 to 720° C. (T₄) higher than the above temperature (T₃) from the temperature (T₃) within 45 seconds after setting.

That is, by cooling the steel material at a rate of 15° C./sec or more so that the lowest temperature (T₃) becomes 500 to 630° C. within 20 seconds after winding and setting, the crystal grains can be made uniform and fine. When the cooling rate is lower than 15° C./sec, the cooling rate is insufficient and the metal structure cannot be made uniform and fine fully and some coarse grains are formed. Although the higher cooling rate is effective in making the metal structure fine, in the case of cooling with an air blast after hot rolling, variations in the cooling rate in the steel wire material tend to become large. Therefore, the average cooling rate after winding and setting is preferably set to 120° C./sec or less, more preferably to 100° C./sec or less. Even when the temperature becomes lower than 480° C. in this cooling step, a supercooling structure is formed on the surface layer and when the temperature becomes higher than 630° C., a coarse grain tends to be formed. Even when the wire material is not cooled to a preferred temperature range within 20 seconds from winding and setting, the metal structure becomes coarse.

After cooling, the strength of the hot rolled material can be significantly reduced by controlling the highest value of the steel material temperature to 580 to 720° C. (T₄) which is higher than the above temperature (T₃) from the temperature (T₃) within 45 seconds after winding and setting. To effectively promote the reduction of strength at this point, the time from winding and setting to the time when the above temperature range is reached is set to preferably 42 seconds or less, more preferably 40 seconds or less. When the temperature T₄ is lower than the temperature T₃ or when the temperature T₄ is lower than 580° C., the reduction of strength becomes unsatisfactory and when the temperature T₄ is higher than 720° C., both strength and ductility lower.

To obtain a hot rolled wire material having excellent wire drawability, the above second process is employed to heat a wire material at 900 to 1,260° C. (preferably 900 to 1,250° C.) in a heating furnace, hot roll it at a rolling temperature of 740° C. or higher (preferably 780° C. or higher), finish roll it at 1,100° C. or lower, cool it with water to 750 to 950° C. to be wound and set on the conveyor device, and cool it at a rate of 15° C./sec or more so as to control the lowest value of the steel material temperature to 500 to 630° C. (T₃) within 20 seconds from winding and setting and then the highest value of the steel material temperature to 580 to 720° C. (T₄), preferably to 580 to 715° C., more preferably to 580 to 710° C., which is higher than T₃ from the temperature T₃ within 45 seconds from winding and setting, thereby making it possible to obtain a high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability efficiently.

EXAMPLES

The following experimental examples are provided to illustrate the constitution and function/effect of the present invention in more detail. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited by the following experimental examples and may be suitably modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the present invention and that all of them are included in the technical scope of the present invention.

Experimental Example 1

A hot rolled steel wire material having a diameter of 5.5 mm having chemical composition shown in Table 1 was manufactured. The amount of REM in Table 1 shows the total amount of La, Ce, Pr and Nd. The obtained hot rolled steel wire material was heated in an atmospheric furnace under conditions shown in FIG. 1 and Tables 2 and 3 and charged continuously into a lead furnace to be heated so as to obtain various steel wire materials. In this experimental example, the atmospheric furnace and the lead furnace were used to carry out the above heat treatment. The present invention is not limited to the use of these devices and other heating furnaces and holding furnaces may be used as a matter of course.

The structural features, scale characteristics and tensile characteristics of the obtained steel wire materials were evaluated. As for the crystal units of bcc crystal grains and sub grains out of the structural features, as the evaluation of variations in each crystal unit is important in the present invention, SEM/EBSP (Electron Back Scatter diffraction Pattern) was employed for the evaluation. The JSM-5410 of JEOL Ltd. was used as SEM and the OIM (Orientation Imaging Microscopy) System of TSL Co., Ltd. was used as EBSP.

After a sample was cut out from each steel wire material by wet cutting, wet polishing, buffing and chemical polishing were employed to prepare a sample for EBSP measurement, and a sample whose strain and surface unevenness caused by polishing were reduced as much as possible was thus prepared. The surface to be observed was polished as the longitudinal section of the steel wire material.

The obtained sample was measured with the center in the line diameter of the steel wire material as an EBSP measurement position. The measurement step was set to 0.5 μm or less, and the measurement area of each steel wire material was set to 60,000 μm² or more. Although the analysis of crystal orientation was carried out after measurement, the measurement result of the average CI (Confidence Index) value which was 0.3 or more was used for analysis to enhance analytical reliability.

The analytical results (boundary map: one example is shown in FIG. 2) of the “bcc crystal grain” which is an area surrounded by a boundary with an azimuth difference of 10° or more and “sub grain” which is an area surrounded by a boundary with an azimuth difference of 2° or more as crystal units intended by the present invention are obtained by the analysis of the bcc-Fe crystal orientation. The obtained boundary map was processed by the Image-Pro image analyzing software to calculate and evaluate each crystal unit.

First, the area of each area (crystal unit) surrounded by a boundary is obtained based on the boundary map by the above Image-Pro. A circle diameter calculated by approximating each crystal unit to a circle equivalent diameter based on the area was used as the diameter of each crystal grain. The calculation results were statically processed as shown in examples of FIGS. 3(A) to 3(C) to obtain the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)), average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)), maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)), maximum sub grain diameter (d_(max)), area ratio of crystal grains having a grain diameter of 80 μm or more and (D_(ave)/d_(ave)) ratio of the average crystal grain diameter to the average sub grain diameter.

Out of the structure features, the total decarbonization is measured by the method described in Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) G 0558. A sample was cut out from a steel wire material, buried in a resin so that the transverse section of the wire material became the surface to be observed, wet polished, baffed, and etched to expose the metal structure with 5% nital and observed through an optical microscope to measure the decarbonization of the surface layer of the steel wire material. The evaluation of decarbonization was made on two or more samples of each steel wire material to obtain a mean value.

The scale characteristics were evaluated based on the adhesion of scale to the surface layer of the steel wire material. Stated more specifically, a 200 mm long sample was cut out from each steel wire material and the adhesion of scale was calculated from a weight difference of the sample before and after pickling with hydrochloric acid. The mean value of measurement data on 10 or more steel wire materials was used for the evaluation of scale.

As for the evaluation of tensile characteristics, a 400 mm long sample was cut out from each steel wire material and a tensile test was made on the sample by a universal testing machine at a cross head speed of 10 mm/min and a gauge length of 150 mm. 40 or more steel wire materials were measured to obtain a mean value of the measurement data as tensile strength (TS: MPa) and reduction of area (RA: %)

A description is subsequently given of the evaluation of wire drawability. Descaling and lubricant coating were made on each steel wire material as pre-treatments before wire drawing. For descaling, hydrochloric acid was used to remove scale by pickling. After descaling, the surface of each steel wire material was coated with phosphate as lubricant coating before wire drawing. Thereafter, dry wire drawing was carried out by a continuous wire drawing machine to a final wire diameter of 0.9 mm.

In this experimental example, to improve productivity at the time of wire drawing, wire drawing was carried out under three different conditions: (1) the final wire drawing rate was 600 mm/min and the number of dies was 14, (2) the final wire drawing rate was 800 mm/min and the number of dies was 14, and (3) the final wire drawing rate was 800 m/min and the number of dies was 12.

Although wire drawing productivity becomes higher from the conditions (1) to the conditions (3), wire drawing conditions become more harsh and a steel wire material to be drawn needs higher wire drawability. 50 tons of each steel wire material was drawn under the above three different conditions to evaluate the existence of wire breakage during wire drawing and the service life of each die. As for the evaluation of the service life of the die, when the die is broken during wire drawing, it is evaluated as (X), when the die is not broken during the drawing of 50 tons of the wire material but the die is worn away and must be exchanged for a new one after wire drawing, it is evaluated as (Δ), and when the die does not need to be exchanged due to the breakage and wear of the die after 50 tons of the wire material is drawn, it is evaluated as (◯). (-) means that the service life of the die cannot be evaluated due to breakage of the wire.

The results are shown in Table 4 and FIG. 4. TABLE 1 Symbol Composition (mass %) (ppm) C Si Mn P S Cu Ni Cr Al N O Mg Ca REM A1 0.62 0.21 0.52 0.008 0.016 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0011 0.0030 0.0011 0.1 0.4 — A2 0.71 0.19 0.51 0.005 0.003 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.0012 0.0037 0.0013 0.1 1.0 — A3 0.72 0.22 0.50 0.010 0.011 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.0005 0.0024 0.0014 0.1 0.7 0.1 A4 0.71 0.18 0.81 0.013 0.004 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.0020 0.0026 0.0013 0.2 1.7 0.1 A5 0.77 0.19 0.50 0.007 0.003 0.01 0.01 0.10 0.0022 0.0031 0.0014 0.1 1.3 — A6 0.81 0.22 0.51 0.006 0.005 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0003 0.0032 0.0012 0.1 0.9 0.2 A7 0.80 0.20 0.51 0.006 0.007 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.0010 0.0028 0.0013 0.1 0.7 — A8 0.81 0.19 0.50 0.012 0.010 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0020 0.0029 0.0014 0.1 0.8 — A9 0.82 0.20 0.52 0.018 0.016 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0011 0.0034 0.0014 0.2 1.2 0.1 A10 0.82 0.23 0.50 0.008 0.006 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.0110 0.0042 0.0021 — — — A11 0.81 0.22 0.51 0.007 0.005 — — — 0.0018 0.0019 0.0015 0.9 2.1 0.4 A12 0.82 1.61 0.50 0.016 0.008 0.62 0.53 0.80 0.0275 0.0051 0.0016 2.1 2.7 1.0 A13 0.88 0.22 0.72 0.010 0.012 0.05 0.20 0.21 0.0016 0.0034 0.0017 0.1 1.2 0.1 A14 0.91 0.21 0.49 0.004 0.005 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0010 0.0026 0.0012 0.1 0.8 0.1 A15 1.02 0.21 0.49 0.004 0.005 0.19 0.05 0.22 0.0004 0.0028 0.0010 0.1 1.5 0.1 A16 0.81 0.22 0.51 0.012 0.021 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.0011 0.0033 0.0014 0.1 1.6 — A17 0.81 0.22 0.51 0.022 0.012 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0008 0.0035 0.0017 0.2 2.1 0.1 A18 0.81 2.21 0.50 0.007 0.008 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0008 0.0034 0.0014 0.1 1.3 0.1 A19 0.80 0.19 1.49 0.009 0.010 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0006 0.0030 0.0013 0.1 1.3 — A20 0.80 0.19 0.49 0.005 0.006 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0022 0.0081 0.0017 0.1 0.9 — A21 1.21 0.21 0.49 0.007 0.005 0.02 0.21 0.20 0.0108 0.0044 0.0015 0.1 0.9 —

TABLE 2 Area ratio of Average Maximum crystal grains Average crystal crystal having a Average temperature Control grain grain diameter of 80 Average sub healing cooing Control elevation temperature diameter diameter μm or more grain diameter Type of temperature rate temperature 1 rate 2 Dave Dmax AF80 dave No. steel T₀(° C.) ° C./SEC T₁(° C.) ° C./SEC T₂(° C.) (μm) (μm) (%) (μm) 1 A1 924 31 573 12 641 7.8 53.4 0 4.3 2 A1 924 30 611 11 640 18.2 79.9 0 10.3 3 A2 744 16 581 12 640 6.2 29.8 0 3.0 4 A2 771 49 578 14 641 6.9 38.8 0 3.2 5 A2 923 32 574 14 638 7.8 63.2 0 2.8 6 A3 922 22 612 12 663 14.5 89.3 21.6 5.1 7 A3 924 31 642 Maintaining the same 22.3 100.7 55.2 5.3 temperature 8 A3 925 30 670 Maintaining the same 34.9 126.8 68.3 7.6 temperature 9 A4 924 32 571 15 640 9.5 61.0 0 4.2 10 A4 951 31 671 Left to be gradually cooled 31.7 120.8 60.2 6.2 11 A5 922 16 572 11 641 11.5 77.7 0 4.6 12 A6 814 28 614 6 677 9.3 53.9 0 4.5 13 A6 852 34 579 10 634 8.4 40.1 0 3.1 14 A6 851 32 628 5 678 9.9 101.0 39.8 4.6 15 A6 922 31 572 20 641 10.1 79.3 0 4.2 16 A7 924 29 588 48 681 13.8 88.1 23.2 4.7 17 A7 951 11 612 11 678 21.2 91.8 46.7 5.6 18 A7 950 31 609 10 681 17.6 86.2 40.6 5.5 19 A8 974 32 538 12 605 10.7 66.3 0 3.7 20 A8 977 87 561 22 701 9.5 44.2 0 4.2 21 A8 970 92 562 25 713 10.1 47.1 0 4.8 22 A8 970 112 558 25 707 9.3 50.4 0 4.7 23 A8 975 31 642 11 668 26.6 125.8 67.9 7.0 24 A9 974 33 637 11 679 18.1 102.4 41.2 6.2 Crystal grain diameter/Sub Total Maximum sub grain diameter decarbon- Tensile grain diameter ratio ization Adhesion strength Reduction dmax Dave/ D_(m-T) of scale TS TS ≦ 1240 × of area No. (μm) dave (μm) mass % (Mpa) Wc^(0.52) RA (%) Remarks 1 24.3 1.8 38 0.599 961 55 2 51.7 1.8 41 0.567 950 ◯ 51 3 13.5 2.1 48 0.132 974 ◯ 49 Descalability: Δ 4 17.7 2.2 53 0.189 991 ◯ 52 5 23.2 2.8 63 0.597 1007 ◯ 45 6 34.2 2.8 62 0.580 998 ◯ 41 7 46.7 4.2 57 0.554 1002 ◯ 30 8 51.1 4.6 55 0.543 987 ◯ 28 9 24.5 2.3 47 0.611 1011 ◯ 47 10 47.2 5.1 52 0.557 992 ◯ 28 11 26.2 2.5 46 0.583 1036 ◯ 46 12 27.6 2.1 40 0.293 1023 ◯ 41 13 18.1 2.7 52 0.338 1031 ◯ 43 14 23.8 2.2 41 0.280 1010 ◯ 39 15 28.8 2.4 38 0.588 1032 ◯ 39 16 33.3 2.9 48 0.522 1018 ◯ 36 17 36.1 3.8 56 0.610 1005 ◯ 32 18 38.2 3.2 54 0.634 1008 ◯ 35 19 19.7 2.9 61 0.821 1051 ◯ 40 20 21.0 2.3 58 0.757 1002 ◯ 38 21 23.5 2.1 52 0.702 997 ◯ 35 22 22.3 2.0 55 0.690 1010 ◯ 39 23 50.8 3.8 62 0.678 1002 ◯ 31 24 40.1 2.9 66 0.699 1010 ◯ 35

TABLE 3 Area ratio of Average Maximum crystal grains Average crystal crystal having a Average temperature Control grain grain diameter of 80 Average sub healing cooling Control elevation temperature diameter diameter μm or more grain diameter Type of temperature rate temperature 1 rate 2 Dave Dmax AF80 dave No. steel T₀(° C.) ° C./SEC T₁(° C.) ° C./SEC T₂(° C.) (μm) (μm) (%) (μm) 25 A9 976 29 641 Left to be gradually cooled 18.7 121.4 62.2 5.1 26 A9 976 31 641 Maintaining the same 24.5 122.1 66.3 5.8 temperature 27 A9 975 29 670 Maintaining the same 36.8 128.9 70.8 8.2 temperature 28 A10 822 48 577 7 642 9.5 43.2 0 3.3 29 A10 821 46 522 15 576 7.5 40.6 0 2.0 30 A10 951 47 531 10 551 8.7 50.8 0 1.8 31 A11 848 47 521 43 638 7.6 41.0 0 3.2 32 A12 947 19 559 21 637 11.2 72.4 0 4.4 33 A13 848 39 578 8 641 8.1 42.1 0 3.6 34 A13 924 38 580 9 642 9.9 63.4 0 3.7 35 A14 850 67 578 10 644 7.7 39.0 0 2.9 36 A14 862 54 581 19 640 9.1 42.1 0 3.1 37 A14 923 71 577 10 643 10.3 61.7 0 2.8 38 A14 921 99 558 20 698 9.7 50.1 0 3.8 39 A14 920 98 552 22 680 9.3 48.2 0 3.5 40 A14 950 47 488 22 601 8.2 35.5 0 2.1 41 A14 1021 70 581 12 644 18.9 91.3 42.5 4.7 42 A15 924 68 558 19 640 8.6 64.6 0 2.7 43 A16 925 29 581 24 639 10.3 74.4 0 4.3 44 A17 923 30 576 24 638 11.1 85.7 12.7 3.8 45 A18 930 30 573 25 641 9.6 71.5 0 4.1 46 A19 924 28 579 22 637 8.8 88.8 18.6 2.8 47 A20 924 29 577 24 639 13.2 74.3 0 4.2 48 A21 924 30 575 24 639 11.9 65.2 2.4 Crystal grain diameter/Sub Total Maximum sub grain diameter decarbon- Tensile grain diameter ratio ization Adhesion strength Reduction dmax Dave/ D_(m-T) of scale TS TS ≦ 1240 × of area No. (μm) dave (μm) mass % (Mpa) Wc^(0.52) RA (%) Remarks 25 42.4 3.7 66 0.761 1025 ◯ 34 26 46.0 4.2 65 0.720 1011 ◯ 32 27 52.0 4.5 67 0.751 979 ◯ 27 28 20.2 2.9 53 0.314 1031 ◯ 45 29 13.7 3.8 48 0.298 1121 X 39 30 14.4 4.8 55 0.570 1131 X 37 31 17.6 2.4 47 0.326 1027 ◯ 41 32 31.1 2.5 83 0.559 1082 ◯ 44 33 22.5 2.3 45 0.322 1109 ◯ 39 34 24.1 2.7 46 0.533 1121 ◯ 38 35 17.1 2.7 42 0.313 1119 ◯ 37 36 20.2 2.9 49 0.431 1130 ◯ 38 37 18.2 3.7 51 0.498 1142 ◯ 39 38 27.2 2.6 55 0.452 1079 ◯ 36 39 23.2 2.7 54 0.459 1096 ◯ 36 40 17.5 3.9 56 0.523 1191 X 40 41 34.9 4.0 75 0.910 1155 ◯ 40 Rust on surface layer: existent 42 17.4 3.2 61 0.501 1240 ◯ 38 43 27.3 2.4 40 0.565 1041 ◯ 32 44 25.6 2.9 47 0.519 1038 ◯ 31 45 25.9 2.3 124 0.522 1120 X 40 Descalability: x 46 19.7 3.1 32 0.551 1223 X 38 Supercooling structure: existence 47 26.5 3.1 42 0.509 1081 ◯ 31 48 19.2 5.0 62 0.574 1331 ◯ 32

TABLE 4 Wire drawing condition (1) Wire drawing condition (2) Wire drawing condition (3) Existence of wire Service life Existence of wire Service life Existence of wire Service life No. breakage of die breakage of die breakage of die 1 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 2 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Existence — 3 Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ 4 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 5 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 6 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 7 Existence — Existence — Existence — 8 Existence — Existence — Existence — 9 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 10 Existence — Existence — Existence — 11 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 12 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 13 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 14 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 15 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 16 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 17 Existence — Existence — Existence — 18 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Existence — 19 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 20 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 21 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 22 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 23 Existence — Existence — Existence — 24 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Existence — 25 Existence — Existence — Existence — 26 Existence — Existence — Existence — 27 Existence — Existence — Existence — 28 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 29 Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ Existence — 30 Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ Existence — 31 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 32 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 33 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 34 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 35 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 36 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 37 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 38 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 39 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 40 Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ Existence — 41 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Existence — 42 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 43 Existence — Existence — Existence — 44 Existence — Existence — Existence — 45 Non-existence X Existence — Existence — 46 Existence — Existence — Existence — 47 Existence — Existence — Existence — 48 Existence — Existence — Existence —

The following can be analyzed as follows from Tables 1 to 4.

Wire drawability is improved by controlling the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) to 20 μm or less and the maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) to 120 μm or less as shown in FIG. 4. Therefore, even when the wire drawing rate is increased, high-speed wire drawing is made possible without breaking the wire material. Further, when the structure is made uniform and fine by controlling (D_(ave)) to 17 μm or less and (D_(max)) to 100 μm or less; TS is reduced to 1,240×Wc^(0.52) or less; the average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) is controlled to 10 μm or less; the maximum sub grain diameter (d_(max)) is controlled to 50 μm or less; and the (D_(ave)/d_(ave)) ratio is controlled to 4.5 or less as additional requirements, wire drawing is made possible without wire breakage even if the number of dies is reduced and the wire drawing rate is increased. Consequently, wire drawability can be further improved.

Steel wire materials Nos. 2, 14, 18, 24, 29, 30, 40 and 41 which satisfy the requirements for the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) and the maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) but not the above additional requirements are broken when the number of dies is small though high-speed wire drawing is possible. In case of steel wire material No. 3 in Tables 2 to 4 which is inferior in descalability from the viewpoint of the service life of the die, wire breakage does not occur during wire drawing even when wire drawing conditions are made harsh but a bad influence upon the service life of the die is seen to such an extent that the die must be exchanged after wire drawing. Also in case of steel wire materials Nos. 29, 30 and 40 in Tables 2 to 4 which are unsatisfactory in the softening of steel and do not satisfy “TS≦1240×Wc^(0.52)”, the service life of the die is short.

The influence upon wire drawability of the composition appears in steel wire materials Nos. 43 to 48 in Tables 3 and 4. That is, as A16 and A17 which are used in steel wire materials Nos. 43 and 44 of Tables 3 and 4 have high contents of P and S, wire breakage occurs though their metal structures are suitably controlled. Since A18 which is used in steel wire material No. 45 of Tables 3 and 4 contains Si too much, marked decarbonization occurs, descalability is poor and strength is too high, thereby causing the breakage of the die and wire breakage during wire drawing.

As A19 used in the steel wire material No. 46 of Tables 3 and 4 contains Mn too much, a supercooling structure is formed and strength is high. Since A20 of steel wire material No. 47 contains N too much, ductility becomes unsatisfactory and strain aging embrittlement readily occurs during wire drawing. Since A21 of steel wire material No. 48 contains C more than the specified value, its ductility is poor and strain aging embrittlement readily occurs during wire drawing.

A steel wire material whose steel components are outside the specified range of the present invention does not achieve satisfactory wire drawability though it has the structural features of the present invention.

Experimental Example 2

To improve wire drawability as hot rolled, types of steel shown in Table 5 below were used and studied. The amount of REM in Table 5 shows the total amount of La, Ce, Pr and Nd. All the types of steel shown in Table 5 satisfy the requirements for composition specified by the present invention.

The types of steel shown in Table 5 were hot rolled under conditions shown in Table 6 and FIG. 5. In the case of a hot rolled material, all the steps from a heating furnace to rolling and cooling must be controlled. As shown in FIG. 5, the control items are more complicated than in the above Experimental Example 1 (FIG. 1). The structural features, scale characteristics, tensile characteristics and wire drawability of the obtained hot rolled materials were evaluated in the same manner as in the above Experimental Example 1.

The results are shown in Tables 6 to 8 and FIG. 6. By suitably controlling a series of steps from heating to winding and cooling for hot rolling, the structural features, scale characteristics and tensile characteristics can be controlled to the ranges specified by the present invention as well, and it can be confirmed from the results of the evaluation of wire drawability that excellent wire drawability can be obtained as the wire material is hot rolled. TABLE 5 Symbol Composition (Mass %) (ppm) C Si Mn P S Cu Ni Cr Al N O Mg Ca REM B1 0.61 0.20 0.51 0.009 0.012 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.0008 0.0032 0.0013 0.1 0.7 — B2 0.71 0.21 0.48 0.004 0.005 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0010 0.0030 0.0013 0.1 1.2 — B3 0.72 0.20 0.88 0.008 0.010 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0009 0.0028 0.0014 0.2 1.4 0.2 B4 0.72 0.19 0.83 0.006 0.005 0.01 0.02 — 0.0278 0.0032 0.0013 — — — B5 0.77 0.20 0.50 0.006 0.005 0.19 0.01 0.20 0.0022 0.0031 0.0014 0.1 1.3 — B6 0.80 0.21 0.52 0.005 0.004 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0004 0.0032 0.0013 0.1 0.8 — B7 0.81 0.20 0.51 0.006 0.006 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.0005 0.0030 0.0014 0.1 1.0 — B8 0.82 0.21 0.51 0.006 0.007 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.0003 0.0029 0.0014 0.1 1.2 — B9 0.88 0.25 0.79 0.010 0.007 0.20 0.02 0.22 0.0311 0.0047 0.0015 0.1 0.6 0.1 B10 0.89 0.92 0.72 0.011 0.008 0.01 0.01 0.25 0.0306 0.0041 0.0014 0.1 1.0 — B11 0.91 0.19 0.50 0.005 0.004 0.19 0.02 0.20 0.0007 0.0027 0.0013 0.1 0.8 — B12 0.92 0.19 0.49 0.004 0.005 0.18 — 0.20 0.0006 0.0027 0.0011 — 1.0 0.1 B13 1.07 0.21 0.51 0.006 0.006 0.21 0.01 0.21 0.0005 0.0028 0.0012 0.2 1.3 0.1

TABLE 6 Tempera- Control Control ture Lowest Finish Tempera- temperature 1 temperature 2 Average Maximum of rolling rolling ture after Average Time Time crystal crystal Type heating tempera- tempera- water cooling from Tempera- for Tempera- grain grain of furnace ture ture cooling rate setting ture setting ture diameter diameter No. steel ° C. ° C. ° C. ° C. ° C./SEC SEC T₃(° C.) SEC T₄(° C.) Dave(μm) Dmax(μm) 1 B1 1152 902 984 852 17 16 580 28 640 8.2 45.4 2 B1 1151 948 1027 847 21 13 574 27 644 8.7 47.2 3 B1 1147 955 1031 922 17 16 650 39 696 23.4 122.1 4 B2 1151 835 932 902 35 9 587 31 653 8.5 43.2 5 B2 1150 911 979 910 31 11 569 30 645 10.3 54.3 6 B2 1148 942 1031 901 37 9 568 33 676 14.1 65.8 7 B2 1147 937 1025 899 13 19 652 34 667 22.7 120.2 8 B3 1102 822 912 823 29 10 533 28 623 8.5 52.5 9 B3 1110 824 920 900 53 7 529 27 629 8.1 49.2 10 B4 1152 932 1022 905 55 6 575 20 645 8.2 47.3 11 B4 1154 938 1031 912 97 4 573 12 599 8.1 42.1 12 B4 1150 935 1027 907 109 3 580 13 630 7.5 43.5 13 B5 1012 802 908 823 24 11 559 22 625 8.6 46.1 14 B5 1022 743 851 822 25 11 547 24 625 7.8 41.4 15 B6 973 808 901 844 37 8 548 23 638 8.3 42.5 16 B6 1102 854 944 863 42 8 527 22 597 9.1 43.1 17 B6 1102 883 1012 882 41 8 554 23 644 10.7 50.5 18 B7 1149 822 943 914 17 17 625 28 664 14.7 82.8 19 B7 1150 905 987 913 16 18 625 27 659 17.9 90.1 20 B7 1155 933 1045 903 12 22 639 27 669 22.3 113.4 21 B7 1152 940 1044 900 71 5 545 27 699 7.6 44.0 22 B7 1150 935 955 911 115 3 566 24 711 8.0 39.5 23 B8 1222 989 1077 925 22 17 551 36 608 12.4 63.2 24 B8 1231 987 1063 932 22 19 514 42 583 10.1 54.2 25 B8 1256 992 1080 931 24 16 547 36 607 13.2 67.7 26 B8 1226 995 1112 973 23 16 605 35 662 21.2 101.2 27 B9 1148 931 989 808 21 9 619 27 682 16.2 91.4 28 B9 1152 923 974 912 17 16 640 42 679 19.5 121.3 29 B10 1155 927 978 802 22 11 560 28 645 10.5 49.7 30 B11 1152 932 982 801 21 11 570 31 670 11.2 52.9 31 B11 1151 921 979 898 16 16 642 38 664 20.8 117.9 32 B12 1151 977 1046 922 47 7 593 17 701 18.7 105.5 33 B12 1150 973 1040 853 99 3 556 23 706 8.1 40.8 34 B13 1148 929 984 872 28 11 564 32 669 12.2 53.1

TABLE 7 Area ratio Crystal of crystal grain grains having diameter/ a diameter Average Maximum Sub grain Total Type of 80 μM or sub grain sub grain diameter decarbon- Adhesion Tensile Reduction of more diameter diameter ratio ization of scale strength of area No. Steel AF80 (%) dave/μm dmax(μm) Dave/dave D_(m-T)(μm) mass % TS (MPa) RA(%) Remarks 1 B1 0 5.2 24.3 1.6 62 0.389 948 54 2 B1 0 5.4 27.6 1.6 71 0.375 951 52 3 B1 61.1 11.4 50.2 2.1 65 0.721 930 46 4 B2 0 4.3 25.2 2.0 73 0.577 998 48 5 B2 0 4.5 25.9 2.3 65 0.592 1008 50 6 B2 0 5.1 27.7 2.8 66 0.565 982 48 7 B2 58.7 10.6 48.7 2.1 67 0.534 967 42 8 B3 0 4.5 26.1 1.9 54 0.298 1012 46 9 B3 0 2.9 22.4 2.8 57 0.552 1046 45 10 B4 0 3.4 32.1 2.4 65 0.501 1002 35 11 B4 0 5.1 29.8 1.6 69 0.450 1030 38 12 B4 0 6.2 30.7 1.2 64 0.469 1007 37 13 B5 0 3.3 21.6 2.6 71 0.287 1052 43 14 B5 0 3.4 20.5 2.3 103 0.256 1048 42 DESCAL- ABILITY: Δ 15 B6 0 3.5 23.3 2.4 43 0.334 1027 40 16 B6 0 2.6 20.1 3.5 61 0.422 1078 42 17 B6 0 2.8 21.0 3.8 63 0.498 1031 40 18 B7 24.7 6.3 34.2 2.3 65 0.621 1017 37 19 B7 40.9 7.2 35.3 2.5 67 0.613 1006 36 20 B7 52.2 7.6 37.8 2.9 62 0.603 1005 33 21 B7 0 2.9 22.7 2.6 55 0.522 1002 34 22 B7 0 3.2 29.1 2.5 58 0.551 998 34 23 B8 0 5.3 23.8 2.3 89 0.778 1059 41 24 B8 0 3.2 24.1 3.2 91 0.812 1110 43 25 B8 0 5.1 25.2 2.6 113 0.781 1050 39 DESCAL- ABILITY: Δ 26 B8 50.9 7.9 40.1 2.7 92 0.911 1011 33 27 B9 37.5 9.3 43.2 1.7 60 0.235 1110 35 28 B9 58.6 10.2 47.8 1.9 58 0.619 1102 29 29 B10 0 3.2 23.5 3.3 72 0.211 1121 36 30 B11 0 3.5 31.6 3.2 65 0.254 1107 36 31 B11 55.1 6.5 47.6 3.2 59 0.604 1107 28 32 B12 48.3 9.2 43.6 2.0 64 0.645 1090 31 33 B12 0 2.9 20.0 2.8 60 0.352 1068 34 34 B13 0 3.3 33.2 3.7 68 0.510 1213 35

TABLE 8 Wire drawing condition3 Wire drawing condition1 Wire drawing condition2 (number of dies is reduced) 600 m/min 800 m/min 800 m/min Existence of Service life Existence of Service life Existence of Service life No. disconnection of die disconnection of die disconnection of die 1 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 2 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 3 Existence — Existence — Existence — 4 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 5 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 6 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 7 Existence — Existence — Existence — 8 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 9 Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ Existence — 10 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 11 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 12 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 13 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 14 Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ 15 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 16 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 17 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 18 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 19 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Existence — 20 Existence — Existence — Existence — 21 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 22 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 23 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 24 Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ Existence — 25 Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ Non-existence Δ 26 Existence — Existence — Existence — 27 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 28 Existence — Existence — Existence — 29 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 30 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 31 Existence — Existence — Existence — 32 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Existence — 33 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ 34 Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯ Non-existence ◯

A high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability can be obtained by controlling especially the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) of a carbon steel wire which satisfies the predetermined requirements for composition to 20 μm or less and the maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) to 120 μm or less and reducing variations in the sizes of the metal structure units and making the metal structure uniform and fine. 

1. A high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability, comprising 0.6 to 1.1% by mass of C, 0.1 to 2.0% by mass of Si, 0.1 to 1.0% by mass of Mn, 0.020% or less by mass of P, 0.020% or less by mass of S, 0.006% or less by mass of N, 0.03% or less by mass of Al and 0.0030% or less by mass of O, the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities, wherein the Bcc-Fe crystal grains of its metal structure having an average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) of 20 μm or less and a maximum crystal grain diameter (D_(max)) of 120 μm or less.
 2. The high carbon steel wire material according to claim 1, wherein the bcc-Fe crystal grains of the metal structure have an area ratio of crystal grains having a diameter of 80 μm or more of 40% or less.
 3. The high carbon steel wire material according to claim 1, wherein the bcc-Fe crystal grains of the metal structure have an average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) of 10 μm or less and a maximum sub grain diameter (d_(max)) of 50 μm or less.
 4. The high carbon steel wire material according to claim 1, wherein the (D_(ave)/d_(ave)) ratio of the average crystal grain diameter (D_(ave)) to the average sub grain diameter (d_(ave)) of the bcc-Fe crystal grains of the metal structure is 4.5 or less.
 5. The high carbon steel wire material according to claim 1, wherein when the tensile strength of the steel wire material is represented by TS and the content of C in the steel wire material is represented by Wc, they satisfy the relationship of the following expression (1): TS≦1240×Wc ^(0.52)  (1).
 6. The high carbon steel wire material according to claim 1, wherein steel further contains at least one element selected from 1.5% or less (not including 0%) by mass of Cr, 1.0% or less (not including 0%) by mass of Cu and 1.0% or less (not including 0%) by mass of Ni.
 7. The high carbon steel wire material according to claim 1, wherein steel further contains at least one element selected from 5 ppm or less (not including 0 ppm) of Mg, 5 ppm or less (not including 0 ppm) of Ca and 1.5 ppm or less (not including 0 ppm) of REM.
 8. The high carbon steel wire material according to claim 1, wherein the total decarbonization of the surface layer (D_(m-T)) is 100 μm or less and the adhesion of scale is 0.15 to 0.85% by mass.
 9. A process for manufacturing a high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability, comprising the steps of heating a steel wire material made of steel having composition, specified in claim 1, at 730 to 1,050° C., cooling it to 470 to 640° C. (T₁) at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more, and heating it to 550 to 720° C. (T₂) at an average temperature elevation rate of 3° C./sec or more, where (T₂) is higher than the above temperature (T₁).
 10. A process for manufacturing a high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability, comprising the steps of heating a steel wire material made of steel having composition, specified in claim 6, at 730 to 1,050° C., cooling it to 470 to 640° C. (T₁) at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more, and heating it to 550 to 720° C. (T₂) at an average temperature elevation rate of 3° C./sec or more, where (T₂) is higher than the above temperature (T₁).
 11. A process for manufacturing a high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability, comprising the steps of heating a steel wire material made of steel having composition, specified in claim 7, at 730 to 1,050° C., cooling it to 470 to 640° C. (T₁) at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more, and heating it to 550 to 720° C. (T₂) at an average temperature elevation rate of 3° C./sec or more, where (T₂) is higher than the above temperature (T₁).
 12. A process for manufacturing a high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability, comprising the steps of heating a steel material having composition, specified in claim 1, at 900 to 1,260° C., hot rolling it at a temperature of 740° C. or higher to subject it to finish rolling at a temperature of 1, 100° C. or lower, cooling it with water to 750 to 950° C. to wind it on a conveyor device, cooling it at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more to 500 to 630° C. (T₃) within 20 seconds after winding, and reheating it to 580 to 720° C. (T₄) within 45 seconds after winding, where (T₄) is higher than the above minimum value (T₃).
 13. A process for manufacturing a high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability, comprising the steps of heating a steel material having composition, specified in claim 6, at 900 to 1,260° C., hot rolling it at a temperature of 740° C. or higher to subject it to finish rolling at a temperature of 1, 100° C. or lower, cooling it with water to 750 to 950° C. to wind it on a conveyor device, cooling it at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more to 500 to 630° C. (T₃) within 20 seconds after winding, and reheating it to 580 to 720° C. (T₄) within 45 seconds after winding, where (T₄) is higher than the above minimum value (T₃).
 14. A process for manufacturing a high carbon steel wire material having excellent wire drawability, comprising the steps of heating a steel material having composition, specified in claim 7, at 900 to 1,260° C., hot rolling it at a temperature of 740° C. or higher to subject it to finish rolling at a temperature of 1, 100° C. or lower, cooling it with water to 750 to 950° C. to wind it on a conveyor device, cooling it at an average cooling rate of 15° C./sec or more to 500 to 630° C. (T₃) within 20 seconds after winding, and reheating it to 580 to 720° C. (T₄) within 45 seconds after winding, where (T₄) is higher than the above minimum value (T₃). 